Today we’d like to introduce you to Lelia Symington.
Hi Lelia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In my family movies are everything. My dad went to film school and my mom majored in theatre in college. My sister also went to film school and now works as a director and writer here in LA. My little brother is a music producer. I’m an actress. Our childhood consisted of 45 minutes a night in front of a wall of VHS (and later DVDs) trying to agree on a movie to watch. Marx Brothers? One of my sister’s latest Herzogs or Hitchcocks? My brother’s anime? My Disney movies. Or always a fan favorite, Mel Brooks. And then after, we’d head to our costume room full of grandparents’ clothes and make movies of our own. That’s how I started. My debut was playing the Major General at age five in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance. It was all musicals and improv classes until high school when I moved to Cincinnati and went to School for Creative and Performing Arts. Then I got a taste for Shakespeare, classic dramas, and farce. But I think from the moment my sister brought out my dad’s old video camera and started making me the star of her short films, I knew it was my medium. I went to NYU and majored in acting and history. And then I moved to LA sort of accidentally, I was meant to stay only a couple of months. Seven years later, I’m still here! I just never stopped working long enough to leave–I’m very lucky for that.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Oh gosh, no. Not smooth at all. You have to get really friendly with the word “no.” If you’re not careful, you could really internalize it and feel like it’s a rejection of your character. But it’s not. Most of the time it comes down to little things–“oh the other girl we cast has the same color hair so we needed someone else” or “The guy is too short so we needed someone else.” Things totally out of your control. I find myself in the funny position now of being cast as the lead in films but not being cast to say one-liners in TV shows. So I’ll lead the charge in a film and the New York Times will call my performance “witty and muscular” but Ive struggled to get a foot in the door to say, “Your table’s over here Mam.” Everyone’s path is completely different and there is really no guide, especially when you don’t have any connections coming into it. I didn’t come to LA knowing anyone established or famous so it was really square one. It has made me a fierce advocate for myself and the people I believe in. I’ve learned to trust my gut and just ask because the worst anyone can say is “no.” I’m challenged to confirm each day that this work is important enough to keep pushing. So far, every day I’ve woken up and said yes.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
A filmmaker friend of mine pitched me recently as a “Warrior Princess Next Door” and I thought yea that’s me! The three feature films that are out this summer where I play the lead really speak to this as all my characters possess a sort of gentle strength. And all three are real justice seekers, champions of the people, and a bit pushy which…I also may be. I’m also on a few podcasts where I get to dive into dialect work, a huge passion of mine. All my characters in Hero Club (a DnD podcast produced by Nick Williams, George Primavera, and Jack Quaid) come from totally different time periods and places in the world so I really get to play. I’m very proud of my work in Brut Force, the neo-noir feature my sister wrote and directed. I felt very connected to my characters and the other actors, I got to work with my family which is a dream come true, and when we got our big write-up in the New York Times, it was very validating. It’s out on Tubi now! Lies Beneath the Surface is a really fun Lifetime movie I just starred in, out now wherever you rent or watch LMN. And Bury Me Twice just won best horror feature at Los Angeles Film Festival!
What matters most to you?
Ok perhaps an eye roll will follow but whatever. LOVE. Love is the only thing there is. I just got married this summer and my new husband and my family, and our dog-they make such a beautiful world. It’s a microcosm for what is possible. Accountability, joy, empathy, support, and growth. The love I have fuels me and inspires me to tell stories and to be brave in my art.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.leliasymington.com
- Instagram: @leliaskips
- Other: www.imbd.me/leliasymington
Image Credits
Jessica Howes, photographer of portraits
